Economics
Can Oil Sands Pay Off at Just $50 a Barrel?
New technologies are helping Canadian oil producers cut costs.
The Suncor Energy oil sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta, on June 13, 2017.
Photographer: Larry MacDougal/APThis article is for subscribers only.
The future is arriving—a few tons at a time—at Suncor Energy Inc.’s North Steepbank oil sands mine in Alberta, Canada. Human-operated excavators scrape away the top layers of soil to get to the hydrocarbon-rich tar sand beneath in much the same way they always have. But now they’re dumping that dirt into driverless trucks that use GPS systems and lasers to find their way through the massive mine.
The trucks, part of a multiyear test, are just one way that Suncor and other oil sands producers are trying to bring down the cost of what traditionally has been one of the most expensive ways to extract crude.